Rev. Thomas Keister
New Member
Luke 14:34 tells us that salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? Reading this verse, I find myself thinking of the phenomenon of born-again Christianity. I became curious again watching the recent tidal wave of faith-based, morally-centered crusades weaseling their way into politics as usual this year. How many of these people, I wonder, these suddenly successful republicans and members of various fundamentally outraged congregations are in fact reaffirming their faith? Or, are they simply playing an angle that went off better than they could have imagined, in order to advance suspect social or political agendas?
How weird it is to me, watching religion regain this sort of mainstream prevalence and influence. Growing up in the 80's and early 90's, religion in the mainstream was more entertainment, bad entertainment, than anything else. Professional wrestling seemed more realistic at the time. There was even a bad guy manager for a time, Brother Love, whose act at face value at least seemed more sincere than half the histrionics broadcast over cable airwaves, allowing the ministers to purchase items like air-conditioned dog houses. Paying only partial attention at the time (the half due in part to spending the majority of the 80's in parochial school), I watched the whole scene, as men like Jimmy Swaggart and like-minded colleagues folded under media scrutiny into their intentions and pretensions.
It seemed so intriguing at the time to me. It was, after all, the image is everything 80's, and to get a message out, you had to treat the message, and to an equal, but occasionally greater extent, yourself as a product. When the product reached critical mass, the law of averages took over. Somewhere in between preaching and market research, mistakes were made, and instead of defending their faith, they were suddenly defending themselves - in court. The blessing had become a curse. The rock star lives they had chosen produced rock star results, ironically enough, given the amount of time some had spent chastizing rock stars, their antics, and their recordings. Then, just when religion was quietly heading back below the radar, for the most part, another odd phenomenon occured. Strange, huh, that religion seems to have so many phenomenon?
The fallen, having seen proselytizing turn into profitability and then again into prosecution, sat back, took stock of their individual situations, and in some cases, individual tax returns, and did what any self respecting talespin rocker would do - they hit the comeback trail. A little reinvention would be necessary, first. It was all taken in stride, just as the hair metal bands had to go back to the drawing board with the advent of grunge.
We as Christians have to accept reinvention unconditionally. After all, what is giving yourself over to a belief system but the act of reinventing yourself at a spiritual level? Luke 14:26 contains Jesus's words 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple.' Through my own experiences, many people take that passage as a pretty harsh terms of service statement when they hear or read it, despite not quite taking the point with them.
How weird it is to me, watching religion regain this sort of mainstream prevalence and influence. Growing up in the 80's and early 90's, religion in the mainstream was more entertainment, bad entertainment, than anything else. Professional wrestling seemed more realistic at the time. There was even a bad guy manager for a time, Brother Love, whose act at face value at least seemed more sincere than half the histrionics broadcast over cable airwaves, allowing the ministers to purchase items like air-conditioned dog houses. Paying only partial attention at the time (the half due in part to spending the majority of the 80's in parochial school), I watched the whole scene, as men like Jimmy Swaggart and like-minded colleagues folded under media scrutiny into their intentions and pretensions.
It seemed so intriguing at the time to me. It was, after all, the image is everything 80's, and to get a message out, you had to treat the message, and to an equal, but occasionally greater extent, yourself as a product. When the product reached critical mass, the law of averages took over. Somewhere in between preaching and market research, mistakes were made, and instead of defending their faith, they were suddenly defending themselves - in court. The blessing had become a curse. The rock star lives they had chosen produced rock star results, ironically enough, given the amount of time some had spent chastizing rock stars, their antics, and their recordings. Then, just when religion was quietly heading back below the radar, for the most part, another odd phenomenon occured. Strange, huh, that religion seems to have so many phenomenon?
The fallen, having seen proselytizing turn into profitability and then again into prosecution, sat back, took stock of their individual situations, and in some cases, individual tax returns, and did what any self respecting talespin rocker would do - they hit the comeback trail. A little reinvention would be necessary, first. It was all taken in stride, just as the hair metal bands had to go back to the drawing board with the advent of grunge.
We as Christians have to accept reinvention unconditionally. After all, what is giving yourself over to a belief system but the act of reinventing yourself at a spiritual level? Luke 14:26 contains Jesus's words 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple.' Through my own experiences, many people take that passage as a pretty harsh terms of service statement when they hear or read it, despite not quite taking the point with them.
concluded in part two
(i was about 2,000 characters too long with this one)
